Book Description
what is death?
A Scientist Looks at the Cycle of Life

Answering the question "What is death?" by focusing on the individual is blinkered. It restricts attention to a narrow zone around the individual body of a creature. Instead, how expansive is the answer we receive when we look at the context of death within the biosphere. Death now is tied to all of life, via the atmosphere and ocean. Death supports the awesome biological enterprise of making abundant the green and squiggly life. Talk about death has headed us straight into a contemplation of life, not only individual life, but big life, life on a global scale. Death and life are neatly dovetailed by the supreme cabinetmaker of evolution. Again, the crucial feature is not the death of any one creature per se, but rather what is done with death. To reach into the meaning of death, we must reach out into the wider context of which death is a part.

Download Description
An exploration of the meaning of death and its profound implications about the meaning of life

In the winter of 1997, biologist and critically acclaimed science writer Tyler Volk began suffering from mysterious physical ailments that would bring him face to face with his own mortality. This experience led him to explore what death means to us–and to discover that our mortality is, paradoxically, extraordinarily life affirming. In What Is Death? Volk shows how we deal with death psychologically and come to inner peace; how as a culture we find our funeral rituals a tremendous comfort and a revitalization of community; and how death evolved at the cellular level and stands as one of the most beautiful necessities in our biosphere. Here is death that is at once an end and a beginning, a source of dignity and a revelation, the basis of who we are as people and as a people.

There is nothing morbid about this book. Tyler Volk's openness and sincerity about the sometimes difficult topic of death had just the opposite effect. My understanding of life, and my gratitude for it, was enhanced. - In just over 200-pages, Volk covers a lot of territory. In three parts, he sensitively explores what neurologically makes us a conscious self, warmly discusses cultural attitudes, and knowledgeably looks at how the myriad forms of death make biological life possible. - If you enjoy reading about the natural sciences or social-cultural topics, you will enjoy this book. Because I enjoy both, I had a great time. It brought to mind cell biologist Ursula Goodenough's "The Sacred Depths of Nature," which I also found edifying. - As the author of "What is Death?," Tyler Volk comes across graciously human and without pretense. Unlike an aloof scientist narrowly consumed with a field of interest, I experienced Volk as down to earth and someone who shares the foibles and joys of being alive. Like each of us, he also is trying to come to terms with his own life and death. Volk's honesty in relating some of his personal journey enhances this fine volume. ( )